Farm - grace grits and gardening

The Cobblestone Project: Fights Hunger + Educates

September 12, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

This post is sponsored by The Cobblestone Project. Opinions are my own.

The Cobblestone Project, a local non-profit organization, is on a mission to fight hunger in Northwest Arkansas. We can help!

Hunger in Northwest Arkansas. Hunger in America.

As I think about the past weekend my husband and I spent with friends—a weekend filled with too much food!—it’s difficult for me to imagine not having enough to eat. But in Northwest Arkansas, one in four families is considered food insecure. This means a significant number of families in our own community struggle to put nutritious food on the table day in and day out.Continue Reading

The Farm: Where Soil and Soul Intersect

April 10, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

Today I’m thinking about The Farm. And The Homeplace. Not my farm or the homeplace of my family but my husband’s. My mother-in-law grew up in Morrison’s Bluff on a farm that backs up to the Arkansas River. For years, I’ve heard stories about John’s childhood trips to The Farm, but Saturday was my first visit. We went for a family reunion.

Y’all, don’t miss your family reunion. It’s important to gather and connect. And we couldn’t have ordered a more perfect day. Not even from a spring weather menu.Continue Reading

Arkansas Delta in Purple

February 22, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

Right now in the Arkansas Delta, the color purple is putting on a show. Fields are dressed and ready for an early spring, the color explosion proof that the soil is warming to the point of supporting blooms. This particular bloom, common henbit, looks anything but common when it blankets an entire field. It has a fancy name, Lamium Amplexicaul. Yes, henbit is a weed, but I’ve always been fond of it. And I’ve never really understood why we don’t consider it vase-worthy.

From the roadside, fields of henbit resemble Oregon lavender fields. Or a Monet painting hanging somewhere far from the Delta.

No doubt Monet’s Champ d’avoine is a stunning work of art, but Arkansas Delta in Purple is pretty breathtaking too.